Improved device for raising canal-lock gates



iINiTnn STATES PATnNT Omron..

WILLIAM THOMAS, OF OTTAVA, ILLINOIS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 17,E 39, dated April 4,1865.

To @ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM THOMAS, of Ottawa, in the county of La Salleand State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Machine forRaising or Hoistin g Lock-Gates or other Heavy Bodies, called aGanalLoek Gate Derrick; and l do hereby declare that tie following is afull, clear, and exact dcszription ofthe construction and operation ofthe same,'reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a partofthis specification, in which- Figure l represents the machine as it liesaross the lock or canal in position to be used, a'id Fig. 2 isl a sideview ot said machine in pisition to be used and operated.

The machine being constructed of light wooden beams put together in theform represented in each of the drawings accompanying thisspecification, two of the beams being placed together in the forni of aninverted letter V, the other being fastened at the point ay b by a bolt,which bolt can be removed whenever the machine is desired to betransported from one canal-lock to another, or from one place toanother. The other end of the beam F, fastened by said bolt, rests onone side of the lock. The other ends of the two beams E E rest on theopposite side of the lock or canal.

The machinery attached to the frame described as above is as follows: Acombination ofa common block and tackle, B, the iron roller G, to eachend ot' which roller is fastened the two iron ratchet-wheels eande,which are fastened stationary to the roller C and rotate with it. Thereis also fastened to said roller O at each end the two iron levers A andA. To each of said levers is attached at the points fandf/the iron pawlsD and D', said pawls working in the ratchet-wheels. Also, to the framebelow, attached in the same manner, are two other iron pawls, d and d.The two last-mentioned pawls are for the purpose of preventing theratchet-wheels and roller from recoiling, which two lastmenti0ned pawlsare kept up in the cogs of said ratchetwheels by means of the steelsprings hand h.

When it is desired to put the machine in position for use, as in Fig. 2of the annexed drawings, a rope or line is fastened to the end of thebeam F, the rope or line, represented by H of the annexed Drawing No. 2,carried across and wrapped or wound around the roller. By then revolvingthe roller, the slack ofthe rope or line being kept up, the machine israised in position to be used. (See Fig. 2.) The derrick being in thisposition, the line or rope H is taken oft'. The block and tackle is thensuspended on the bolt a b, the hook on the lower block fastened to thelock-gate or other body desired to be raised. The rope or lineordinarily used or held in the hand inusing the block and tackle is thenwound around the roller O, as represented by the red-colored line inFig. l of the annexed drawings. One ma-n then works each ot' saidlevers, and 011e is required to keep up the slack of the rope or linewound around the said roller by holding the loose end ot' the rope taut,and when thus worked, as rapidly as the roller is turned by the men atthe levers the lock-gate or body is raised by this machine.

Lock-gates weighing from ten to fifteen tons are raised out and repairedby three men, (only that number are required in using the machine,) whenformerly as many as eight men were necessary to do the same work. Bythus combining the lever-power and roller with the block and tacklethree men-one man keeping the rope taut., the other two at thelevers-can raise a weight of many more tons than the weight of thelock-gates, as before stated. The Vframe of the derrick can beconstructed of light timbers from the fact that all the strain on theframe comes on the ends of the two beams put in form of inverted letterV, and it is so constructed that the roller, ratchet-wh eels, and leverscan be taken ott' in separate pieces by the ends ot' the roller beingframed square and the hole through the ratchet-wheels being mortisedsquare. By being so constructed it can be with little troubletransported from place to. place.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Pat-ent, is

The combination of the block and tackle, the roller, levers,ratchet-wheels, the pawls, the springs, and frame of the machine beingoperated and used as hereinbefore set foith, for the uses and purposesaforesaid.

WM. THOMAS.

In presence of- F. F. BROWER, S. C. WALKER.

